Greeley Municipal Court to move into City Hall

The Greeley Municipal Court moved out of its Lincoln Annex Location, 919 7th St., on Monday. For the next two weeks, the court will operate in the basement of City Hall, 1000 10th St. The court will be open from 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, it will close at 12:30 p.m. The court will move into the modular buildings, opening on May 23. The hours will be the same.

The Greeley Municipal Court is one of the city agencies needing to leave the Lincoln Annex, 919 7th St., to make way for a hotel and conference center. Its new home will be more temporary than expected.

The court was slated to move May 2 into some modular buildings on the now Greeley-owned Safeway lot at 1122 11th Ave.

But the modular buildings' wiring didn't meet code when they showed up, said Public Works Director Joel Hemesath.

Crews from Williams Scotsman, the contractor providing the buildings, have been repairing the wires and getting them up to standard.

"They're having to do it on site, where normally it's done in their warehouse," he said.

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The issue pushed the court's move back by two weeks, but work on the Lincoln Annex site had already begun. The courts moved into the basement at City Hall, 1000 10th St., and it opened Monday, where it will operate until the modular buildings are fixed.

The court could have stayed in its home at the Lincoln Annex, but it's scheduled for pre-demolition gutting, in which crews will rip out the walls and remove asbestos. The court portion of the building is scheduled to be knocked down completely in July, said Natalie Stevens, a spokeswoman for the city.

"We don't want to hold up getting the buildings on the hotel block done," Safarik said.

Williams Scotsman will continue charging Greeley rent for the modular buildings as its employees make repairs, accepting the full $988,000 officials allotted for the two-year lease, meaning they would not give the city a discount for the time the courts could not use the buildings. The company won't charge the city for any of the extra costs associated with the repairs, however.

Meanwhile, court will take place at the bottom of City Hall. Security will sit at the base of the spiral staircase in the basement. The waiting area and courtroom will take up conference space the city usually uses for meetings and training.

"For two weeks we can reschedule a lot of things," Safarik said. "If it were a year and a half, it would be pretty difficult."

City officials expect to begin construction on the new City Center complex, which will house its municipal courts, by the end of the year. Construction is expected to take at least a year.

While residents use City Hall as a courthouse, city employees will park across the street, to make room for residents attending court. City employees will park to the west of the round building along 10th Street, west of 11th Avenue.

The Greeley City Council is having its weekly meetings in the Greeley-Evans School District 6 headquarters, 1025 9th Ave. The district and the city signed an agreement that allowed the council to meet there. City officials moved more than $90,000 worth of audio-visual technology into the board room and agreed to leave it after moving into a permanent home in a few years. In return, district officials gave the city a parking lot just west of the round building. Greeley had been using it for overflow parking.

City employees will park in that lot until the court's modular building opens.

Where to go?

The Greeley Municipal Court moved out of its Lincoln Annex Location, 919 7th St., on Monday. For the next two weeks, the court will operate in the basement of City Hall, 1000 10th St. The court will be open from 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, it will close at 12:30 p.m. The court will move into the modular buildings, opening on May 23. The hours will be the same.